Penticton’s public garbage bins stuffed with signs of success in beach booze plan

The City of Penticton is dealing with an unintended consequence stemming from the success of its new public alcohol consumption policy that recently allowed liquor on the city’s Okanagan Lake beaches.

City engineer Ian Chapman told council members park and beach use is up, and so is the volume of litter, during passing of an bylaw that would allow liquor consumption on Skaha Beach last Thursday, July 23.

He said the consumption of alcohol along with take out food from local restaurants at the beach was resulting in “a bit of a problem” from overflowing waste receptacles.

City staff clean the beach areas and empty refuse containers on a daily basis but suggested some additional measures might be necessary to keep up.

He told council the city was looking at increasing the size of recycle containers at the beach as well as for containers holding trash, hiring more staff and placement of a six-yard bin for cardboard at Coyote Cruises.

Couns. Frank Regehr and Judy Sentes inquired about a public education program encouraging beach goers to pack their garbage out.

Staff will return to council with options at an upcoming meeting.

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